"They'll return on the 27th of this month and lay their eggs," says Mr Mansell.

"It's an annual thing; you can set your clock by it."

Clyde Mansell, Chair of the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, says he always looked forward to muttonbirding when he was younger as a chance to spend time with elders, exchanging stories as they gathered the birds.

"As young fellers we used to go out there each year and look forward to going out with the old fellers telling stories about their days out muttonbirding," he says.

The muttonbirds, or short-tailed shearwaters, migrate from south eastern Australia up to the oceans around Japan and back again every year, a round trip of about 30,000 kilometres.

There's an estimated 23 million muttonbirds that nest in south eastern Australia, with about 11 million birds using Tasmania and the islands to breed.

Tasmanian Aboriginal groups have been muttonbirding for as long as there have been humans and mutton birds in Tasmania.

They take the young chicks from the burrows, leaving the adult birds to live and breed again.

"We take a lot of effort to make sure that the birds, to the best of our ability, do survive," says Mr Mansell.

"Muttonbirds are cultural icons in the muttonbird community."

The act of going mutton birding has more significance to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community than just finding a good feed, as it's a chance to tell stories and pass down culture from one generation to another.

Some of the harvested muttonbirds are sold, though Mr Mansell says this is mostly to help cover the costs of going muttonbirding, rather than as a money making business.

"Nobody ever becomes rich going muttonbirding."

Amateur hunters can get a licence from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) to harvest small numbers of birds for person use, while the Aboriginal community is allowed to catch and sell the birds.

Muttonbirds (also known as Yolla) are very oily birds, with a strong flavour, which does put off some people. They've been known to set BBQs on fire as the oil spills out, but they can be cooked in a number of ways and the skun one (where most of the fat has been removed) can even be BBQed with the risk of setting your house on fire.